“We are not going to be drawn into any speculation on any names, no matter who they might be.”

AC Milan confirmed that their chief executive Adriano Galliani had met officials from City on Tuesday to discuss Kaka’s future.

In a statement, the Serie A club said: “Galliani received a delegation from Manchester City yesterday in Milan as a gesture of courtesy like always in these cases. There are no talks at the moment.”

The current record for a player’s signature is £46m when France’s Zinedine Zidane moved from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001.

Kaka joined Serie A giants Milan from Sao Paulo in 2003 and has since won the league title, Champions League and Club World Cup.

The attacking midfielder also picked up the Ballon d’Or and Fifa World Player of the Year awards in 2007.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, estimated to be worth £15bn, took over as City owner in September 2008 and extensive funds have been made available to manager Mark Hughes.

Every player has his price – Marcotti

However, he has only secured the services of Wayne Bridge in January’s transfer window, with bids rejected for West Ham forward Craig Bellamy and Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz.

The four-man delegation that travelled to Italy to initiate talks with the Milan officials is believed to have included executive chairman Garry Cook and two representatives of the Sheikh.

BBC Radio 5 Live’s senior football reporter Ian Dennis says the move underlines Sheikh Mansour’s “desire to transform Manchester City”, although he added “actually pulling off what would be an incredible coup is another matter entirely”.

With the club struggling in 15th position in the Premier League, it would give City an incredible boost if they were to seal the deal for one of the world’s best players.

However, it is thought the move to target Kaka is being driven by the club’s top officials rather than Hughes himself.

RECORD TRANSFERS

£47m Zinedine Zidane (Juventus – Real Madrid)

£37m Luis Figo (Barcelona – Real Madrid)

£34m Hernan Jorge Crespo (Parma – Lazio)

£32.5m Robinho (Real Madrid – Man City)

£31m Christian Vieri (Lazio – Inter Milan)

£30.75m Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham – Manchester United)

Having started his career with Sao Paulo where he scored 58 goals, Kaka moved to Milan for £5m and has scored 86 goals in 244 appearances.

He has also picked up 62 caps for Brazil and scored 23 goals having made his debut against Bolivia in January 2002 and featured in the 2002 World Cup winning squad.

Kaka is on a contract at the San Siro until 2013 and although he stated last February that he wanted to remain at Milan for the rest of his career, he did hint at a desire to play in the Premier League – which he has described as the “best championship in the world”.

Following Robinho’s surprise £32.5 move to Eastlands in September and not, as expected, to Chelsea, Kaka’s spokesman Diogo Kotscho warned City it would need more than a large cheque to persuade the player to move.

Italian football expert Gabrielle Marcotti told BBC Radio 5 Live he believed the City delegation had begun conversations with Milan representatives talking about signing goalkeeper Nelson Dida.

“As I understand it, they went to Milan supposedly under the ruse of talking about another player and in the course of the conversation they brought up Kaka and said they would be prepared to spend this much,” Marcotti said.